Decades-low interest rates, improved job prospects and other factors are helping consumers shore up their finances overall, though pockets of weakness persist.

In Arizona, fewer people are filing for bankruptcy, continuing a long improvement trend that began more than five years ago. Metro-Phoenix bankruptcy filings declined 10 percent over the first six months of 2016 compared with the same stretch last year, the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Phoenix reported. On a year-over-year basis, metro-Phoenix and statewide bankruptcies have dropped for 65 straight months.

"We're not seeing as many people in dire straits, with elevated debt levels," said Mike Sullivan, a spokesman for Phoenix debt-counseling firm Take Charge America. But while middle-class households seem to be on a more solid footing, working-poor families continue to struggle, he added.

Bankruptcies also continue to ease nationally; consumers overall are doing a better job handling their debt payments. A modest 2.47 percent of credit-card accounts were 30 days or more overdue in the first quarter, the most recent tally provided by the American Bankers Association.

That was down from 2.52 percent delinquencies in last year's fourth quarter and well below the 15-year average of 3.71 percent overdue accounts. Delinquencies also fell across most other consumer-loan categories tracked by the association, even though the economy hit a soft spot earlier this year.

"More people have jobs, wages are higher, home values have increased and consumers didn't overextend themselves during the holiday season," said James Chessen, chief economist for the American Bankers Association, in a statement. "Consumers have shown a remarkable ability to ensure their debt levels are manageable."

Persistently low interest rates also have helped. Household debt service — monthly debt payments divided by after-tax income — eased to 10 percent in the second quarter. This measure had hit a cyclical peak of 13.2 percent in the fourth quarter of 2007.

The debt-burden figure has been at or under 10 percent only a couple of times since 1980, said David Kelly, chief global strategist for JP Morgan Asset Management. Households now hold nearly $7 in assets for every dollar in debt, he added. Mortgages account for two-thirds of household borrowings.

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Kelly said he sees no signs of a U.S. recession on the horizon and expects the economy to continue growing at a slow pace. His remarks, in a conference call last week, came before the Bureau of Labor Statistics on Friday reported a surprisingly strong 287,000 new jobs created nationally in June, the best showing in eight months. The June U.S. unemployment rate of 4.9 percent compared to an Arizona jobless rate of 5.6 percent in May, the most recent reporting period.

Still, Sullivan expressed concern that borrowing totals appear to be rising faster than household incomes. He cited high student-loan and auto-loan debts as especially worrisome. In the American Bankers Association survey, delinquencies on auto loans arranged directly through banks rose to 0.81 percent in the first quarter from 0.75 percent, though delinquencies on indirect loans arranged through dealers eased to 1.45 percent from 1.54 percent.

But those loan categories are fairly modest. Compared to the 67 percent of total household debt represented by mortgages, student loans account for 9 percent and auto borrowings, 7 percent.